Social networking: Client, Facebook friend - or both?

In the Lawyers USA article, Social networking: Client, Facebook friend - or both?, Sylvia Hsieh, addresses the issues surrounding lawyers “friending” clients on Facebook. Hsieh provides prospective from Richard Vetstein, a real estate lawyer in Framingham, Mass., Traci Capistrant, a family law attorney at Capistrant & Wong in Minneapolis, Minn., David Barrett, a practicing litigator in Boston who also coaches lawyers on using social media, and me -- Gina Rubel, a former trial attorney and owner of Furia Rubel Communications.

I encourage you to read the article and pass it along to colleagues. One of the points made is that Facebook users should NOT have two profiles (one for personal use and one for professional use) under the Facebook terms of use. Many professionals have created more than one profile, but it is not necessary with the new privacy settings provided by Facebook.

Social media should play an important role in your public relations, reputation management, legal marketing and business development – but it does have to be managed and handled wisely.

Happy friending….